CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The owner of a mobile home park near the new city airport has told the state that he is taking steps to correct problems with a faulty sewer system.
Jerry Jacobson of Dana Point, Calif., wrote to Richard Urban, Chattanooga field office manager for the Tennessee Division of Water Pollution Control, acknowledging the state’s notice of violation for Peachtree Pointe, a mobile home park off Michigan Avenue Road.
Mr. Jacobson said he has paid the fee to Cleveland Utilities to have the park’s underground wastewater system inspected by camera. He said weekly water samples are being taken near the unpermitted sewage pump station that serves the park.
“The upstream measurement shows that there is contamination of the stream before it reaches Peachtree Pointe, and while there is some increase in the downstream readings, it appears that Peachtree is not the main contributor of contamination,” Mr. Jacobson wrote to Dr. Urban.
The first test results, done by Analytical Industrial Research Laboratories Inc., show a measurement of 460 E. coli colonies/100 ml upstream from the mobile home park and a downstream measurement of 650 E. coli colonies/100 ml. The samples were taken June 21.
But the results reported by Mr. Jacobson raise more questions for Dr. Urban. They are significantly higher than the state’s standard of 126 E. coli colonies/100 ml, he said.
LOCATION ISSUE
“The question we have posed to Mr. Jacobson is the exact locations where these samples were taken,” Dr. Urban said Friday.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation prescribed an exact downstream location, “so we are asking him for the exact upstream location. We haven’t gotten that yet,” Dr. Urban said.
The sampling locations are important to know, he said. The Peachtree Pointe system has two connections, one linking the homes to the sewer pump station, and one connecting the pump station to Cleveland Utilities’ main sewer line.
CRACKED SYSTEM
The problem is not just a leaking pipeline, he said.
When the system was installed, workers ran into bedrock and had to blast. A video inspection of the system a couple of years ago revealed lots of cracks in the trench where the gravel-bedded sewer pipe lies.
“More than likely, the cracks are filled with wastewater,” Dr. Urban said. “So what we have is not a pipe but a series of connections with the system.”
For that reason, he said, it’s important that the entire system be corrected.
Peachtree Pointe resident Jacky Morgan, out mowing his lawn Thursday, said he hadn’t heard anything about problems with the sewer line or pump station.
But Barbara Gilbert, who lives in the Royal Oaks subdivision downstream from the mobile home park, said other neighbors have told her they’re worried about health effects from the sewer problems. She said some park residents may be facing dangers they don’t know about.
Craig Mullinax, Water Division manager for Cleveland Utilities, said the utility has received Mr. Jacobson’s fee and is working with two independent companies to inspect the sewage station.
“The station has been there quite a while, about 11 years, I understand,” he said. “We want to make sure the pumps, the controls, the wiring (are) acceptable to the point where they wouldn’t have to be replaced shortly after we took over, and we incurred the cost.”